Welcome to the Zakka Along 2 to celebrate Ayumi’s Patchwork Please! book! My turn on the Zakka Along is making the Happy Hexagon Trivet. My heart feels likes it’s squeezing as I look at all the beautiful photos of the projects in Ayumi’s book. Patchwork Please! is a smorgasbord of yummy projects for every taste, every occasion and every skill level. I love Ayumi and I love her all projects. And of course I love Ayumi’s lunch bag pattern - it’s only a matter of weeks and I’ll be on my one dozen’th one.

For my Happy Hexagon trivet I chose some fabrics from a cute Kawaii roll I got from Bunny’s Designs and paired it with some Robert Kaufman’s Essex Yarn Dyed (in Flax). Like mac n cheese, the two play so beautifully together. But then E V E R Y T H I N G plays beautifully with Essex! For the center piece I made my own pieced unit so I could use the little scrap of monkey I had. I chose to use the freezer paper method (which I learned how to do when I made my Treat Yo Self quilt from the Refrigerator Magnets Quilt Blocks pattern by Elizabeth) to make the trivet. By using the freezer paper, I was able to get my fussy cuts just perfect. Iron over what I wanted visible, and then trim it ¼” past the paper’s edge. Brilliant.

When I got to the Essex round, I stitched on large scraps, pressed…

…and then pressed on the freezer paper and lobbed off the fabric at ¼” past the paper’s edge.

Next round I did the same thing - pressed my freezer paper on to my fabric to fussy cut, and then cut ¼” past the paper’s edge, and then joined it to the hexagon.

After the yellow round, I did the same method as the previous round with Essex - stitched on, press freezer paper on, and then trim.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Bind.

I finished the trivet with some hand quilting.

GIVEAWAY #1
I have some fabulous goodies for my giveaway furnished to me by Robert Kaufman, Form & Fabric, Pellon and Aurifil Robert Kaufman: Four half-yards of Essex Yarn Dyed Form & Fabric: Bundle of sunshiny fabrics plus some their signature kick-ass stickers Pellon: Sampler “color cards” of their batting and interfacing products Aurifil: Thread, thread, glorious thread

Just leave a comment below and I’ll have random.org draw a winner on Thursday, August 22, 2013 around noon ish PST.

GIVEAWAY #2
Want to join in on the Zakka Along 2? Want to win some cool stuff? Be sure to visit A Quilter’s Table for the Zakka Along 2 for the link-up info and to enter for a Kawaii roll from Bunny’s Designs and other great prizes.

Want to zakka along, too? You can join in the fun at the Zakka Along 2 flickr group here. Check out the Zakka Along 2 tour’s past, present and future:

Edited in: The giveaway has now ended, and using random.org for comments 1-498, the winner is #212 by montse (of Spain!!) from Montse Cose Cose. Congratulations, Montseta!! This giveaway could not be more international (Japan, Italy, USA and Spain!) - I love that!!

I’m ashamed to admit that I love and own Ayumi’s book, but have yet to make a project. Too much work and not enough play makes Shelly a dull (and cranky) girl! Turning 50 this week, ugh! In my mind I’m still 20, but my knees say otherwise.

I finally understand the freezer paper method! Thanks!! (I love to foundation-piece but I can see the logic in precise cutting and no tearing afterward.) Very cool. And your linen layers are marvelous - think I’ll try my hand at one today.

Your art is always so cute and colorful. It always make me smile when I see something you have done. Keep it coming. Your website is lovely as well. I love your embroidery thread themed link buttons, adorable.

I adore this hexi pattern and NEED to make it. I love your name. My blog name has zombie in it too :) I have never tried Aurifil thread. I really just blog for myself to remember all the projects I have been working on.

Oh, you have a golden. Aren’t they just wonderful. We have our fourth, Axl, 17 mo. old. The only kind of dog to have if you don’t mind hair fluffs on the floor. I’ve thought about giving up and just wearing all khaki clothes. I would love the chance to win. Your trivet is precious. N

ACK!!! I have been drooling over Essex linen for months, but never know what to do with it… this may be the project to finally push me over the edge! I would love to win this goodie bag to get me started! Thanks for the generous giveaway!

I love the great fabrics you chose for your trivet. I finally got my book about a week ago and am loving that I can back track to the beginning of the sew along to see how each crafter did their own. Thanks for the chance to win.

Such fun fabrics, and you’re right, Essex DOES go with everything. I’ve always loved it from afar, and just this last week while on vacation, I actually stumbled upon a store that carried it. It’s as beautiful to touch as it is to see! And you’re GIVING some of this away?? Awesome!

I’m just beginning to hone my quilting skills and need all the help I can get! I am thankful for your fun and informative site and look forward to many years of happy quilting!
Thank you for the give-away opportunity!

I love the freezer paper on top! I used to do it on the backside but getting it all out was torture! I love your money centerpiece too!
And agreed about Ayumis lunch bag! I’ve only made about 200 or so to stuff with information and goodies for those that adopt animals from our local shelter! Perfect size!

Mmmm…Essex. How we love it so! Your trivet is beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to post the step-by-step pictures. I’m still intimidated by paper piecing, so it’s really encouraging to be able to see clearly how you did it.

I love the trivet, but what I love more right now is that you introduced me to the “Blurred lines” song which I have never heard about until your last post (it’s not strange, I live in another country, Spain)!
Terrific giveaway, thanks for the chance to win!

Great project and great giveaways! I went to the Austin Fabric shop hop and got to shop at Form and Fabric and Bunny’s Designs in person, great fabric stores that I wish were open to the public all the time!

I just picked this book up from the library and I adore it. It is definitely on my ‘to purchase’ list! Your trivet helped to seal that deal, too. Thanks for the opportunity to win some fabulous prizes!

Love your trivet…I bought the book awhile back but haven’ had much time to make much…I did try the trivet and hope to make some for xmas gifts soon…it was my introduction to paper piecing and ILOVEIT!
Love how everyone comes up with beautiful fabric combos. Thanks for a chance to win.

So many exciting things this week with the ‘blue moon and mars ” event and now your giveaway, I am besides myself. I’d love to win either. The block is amazing (I’d say out of this world but that’s a groaner don’t you think?). Anyway, thank you so the chance to win some very awesome things. : )

I’m a newbie beginner quilter and I love reading all the blogs tutorial and I’m amazed at all the pretty things everyone does! I especially love this cute trivet! I learned quilting through watching YouTubes!
And reading pictorial tutorials what I call them!

I love your trivet and your fabric choices. I’ve always wanted to try hand quilting, what a great project to do that on. And thanks for the sweet giveaway. Who doesn’t love Aurifil thread, happy fabric and samples. Wow!

I keep seeing these giveaways and can never find the place to enter–well today i did. your blog is cute and the fabric is fun–the hexies looks like alot of work.I usually go for fast and cute kid stuff. Could you use a foundation piece or would it be just as intensive
Thanks Wendy Dillon

Oh these are so cute. These could be a fun quick easy gift to made for family and friends. They could be in their favorite colors or holiday themed. The possibilities are endless. Thank You for the chance to win some very nice prizes. May you have a great day.

What a cute project! I love little projects like this that you can actually finish in a reasonable amount of time and use up all the scraps of the fabric that is just too cute to throw away. Really like your freezer paper technique too. Can’t wait to try that one. Hope I win!

I love these smaller projects. They are great to do in between when you are working on a large project. Keeps you from getting bored. Something you can whoop up quick for a gift.I only have one spool of Aurifil, and I love it. Thank you for the toot!

Tour trivet is really cute. I have just chosen the fabric to make my first project with freezer paper: the prettified pincushion from Ayumi’s book. Than I want to try to make the trivet following your instructions. Thanks for the chance to win the giveaway.
Laura